I LIKE HOW PEOPLE CAN STILL HATE

[El Gamo]

Wladimer has already beaten Byrd's style once.

And the way the picture ends up he could fight Sergei Liakovich if Sergei beats McBride Or Oleg Maskaev.

Nobody is hating on Wladdy. But I respect Byrd more for taking that fight then I do Wladimer for winning it. There is no heavyweight champion to me. Just a bunch of leather belt holders.

Nicely put,cc.That's all I see too.just a bunch of beltholders.

[SimonH]

Personally, Wlad and Vitali in particular, personifies all that is wrong in Heavyweight boxing. It is not all their fault, but the reasons are:

Vitali was just a big hulk of a man, if the top Black American athletes had continued in boxing, he would of a been nothing more than fringe contender IMO.

Wlad is just as annoying from the point of view of the fact, he is not without a lot of talent. But ever since Purity he has rarely used it! Instead, he is robotic and predictable, and has been caught out a couple of times, because of that. Wlad could of been a hugely dominate World Champion, the equal of Lennox, at least, but he has failed...

I look at what Heavyweight boxing was in the 70s and 80s, and it makes me shake my head. The personalities and fighters I could identify with, have disappeared, and in their place, have come these huge East Europeans, who lack in ring generalship, and because they do not have English as their first language, they lack the ability to get their personalites across, and thus for the English speaking world, boxing is poorer.

[Purist]

Britkid. If this was the old days Wlad would have been done after Sanders and retired after Brewster

[SimonH]

Britkid. If this was the old days Wlad would have been done after Sanders and retired after Brewster

If it was the 'Good ol' days'; Wlad would still be in the Red Army; an amateur getting a silver medal in every Olympics, losing to the next Stevenson or Savon

[Klitsfan]

Personally, Wlad and Vitali in particular, personifies all that is wrong in Heavyweight boxing. It is not all their fault, but the reasons are:

Vitali was just a big hulk of a man, if the top Black American athletes had continued in boxing, he would of a been nothing more than fringe contender IMO.

Wlad is just as annoying from the point of view of the fact, he is not without a lot of talent. But ever since Purity he has rarely used it! Instead, he is robotic and predictable, and has been caught out a couple of times, because of that. Wlad could of been a hugely dominate World Champion, the equal of Lennox, at least, but he has failed...

I look at what Heavyweight boxing was in the 70s and 80s, and it makes me shake my head. The personalities and fighters I could identify with, have disappeared, and in their place, have come these huge East Europeans, who lack in ring generalship, and because they do not have English as their first language, they lack the ability to get their personalites across, and thus for the English speaking world, boxing is poorer.

He is the exact opposite of robotic and predictable!!He is the smartest heavyweight in the past 15 years!You heard what Byrd said after the fight how he never trained for the kind of fight Wladimir brought to him, and Byrd knows how to adapt to any style.He could easily be better than Lewis and at 30 years old has 49 fights to his credit and is still improving!!Get over Lewis, he is retired like Vitali, give Wladimir his credit!

[SimonH]

He is the exact opposite of robotic and predictable!!He is the smartest heavyweight in the past 15 years!You heard what Byrd said after the fight how he never trained for the kind of fight Wladimir brought to him, and Byrd knows how to adapt to any style.He could easily be better than Lewis and at 30 years old has 49 fights to his credit and is still improving!!Get over Lewis, he is retired like Vitali, give Wladimir his credit!

IMO, boxers today are better than their counterparts from 30 years ago, but that does not mean they are Greater. Wlad has never fulfilled the hype he was getting in the late 90s, and again in the early 00's, he has not filled the void left by Lennox, and for the reasons I stated above, I cannot ever see him doing it.

[Klitsfan]

He is the exact opposite of robotic and predictable!!He is the smartest heavyweight in the past 15 years!You heard what Byrd said after the fight how he never trained for the kind of fight Wladimir brought to him, and Byrd knows how to adapt to any style.He could easily be better than Lewis and at 30 years old has 49 fights to his credit and is still improving!!Get over Lewis, he is retired like Vitali, give Wladimir his credit!

IMO, boxers today are better than their counterparts from 30 years ago, but that does not mean they are Greater. Wlad has never fulfilled the hype he was getting in the late 90s, and again in the early 00's, he has not filled the void left by Lennox, and for the reasons I stated above, I cannot ever see him doing it.

The key word is YET.

[means2184]

Wlad is a modern day George Foreman whithout a chin. he cant change his tempo he fights at the same pace and if you push him he will gas.

Sergie might do him but he gets caught himself.

Imagine this scenario, Wladamir unifys and Sanders comes back to fight him and ends up the unified champ

How can you compare him to Foreman? He's a skilled fighter unlike Foreman, and he doesn't hit as hard. Thats the worst analogy I've ever heard. Let's compare Roy JOnes Jr. to Nigel Benn next.... except they both have weak chins. George was a pressure fighter with hardly any skill, but had a great chin, and even better power. Wlad is way faster, and a much much much better boxer, but he has the chin of a 6 year old or else he would likely be one ofthe top Heavyweights ever.

u musta not seen many foreman fights ...the man has skill & plenty of it ...even when he was younger he held his hands out and was very sticky and octopussy w/ his arms and when he was older i think his skill even showed more cause he wasnt all power...not to ention he was one of teh best ever on how to cut the ring off

[SalTheButcher]

Personally, Wlad and Vitali in particular, personifies all that is wrong in Heavyweight boxing. It is not all their fault, but the reasons are:

Vitali was just a big hulk of a man, if the top Black American athletes had continued in boxing, he would of a been nothing more than fringe contender IMO.

Wlad is just as annoying from the point of view of the fact, he is not without a lot of talent. But ever since Purity he has rarely used it! Instead, he is robotic and predictable, and has been caught out a couple of times, because of that. Wlad could of been a hugely dominate World Champion, the equal of Lennox, at least, but he has failed...

I look at what Heavyweight boxing was in the 70s and 80s, and it makes me shake my head. The personalities and fighters I could identify with, have disappeared, and in their place, have come these huge East Europeans, who lack in ring generalship, and because they do not have English as their first language, they lack the ability to get their personalites across, and thus for the English speaking world, boxing is poorer.

i gotta say man, i think people have a hugley exaggerated image of how it used to be, just because there arent 20 world class HW fighters doesnt mean wlad wouldnt KO most past HW fighters...

peolple even seem to think the HW division ewas like 60 times better off in the early 90s with fucking buster mathis, michael and leon spinks... wtf man, who else is supposedley better then all of wlads opponents?

ROBOTIC?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

WTF MAN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

you people dis him for having no stamina when he comes out and throws everything he has (which takes no tactic) and when he does the most insanley tactical thing ever and barley misses a single counter punch he gets told he doesnt throw enough?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


come on, mayweather could do the exact same thing and everyone would kiss his ass for it

and about american atheletes...

the best athelets are wide recievers running backs and defensive backs

out of those tree only the build of runnning backs would really transfer to boxing, and most of them wouldnt make good fighters


im guessing your not reffering to linesmen...

at least i hope not...

[SimonH]

i gotta say man, i think people have a hugley exaggerated image of how it used to be, just because there arent 20 world class HW fighters doesnt mean wlad wouldnt KO most past HW fighters...

peolple even seem to think the HW division ewas like 60 times better off in the early 90s with fucking buster mathis, michael and leon spinks... wtf man, who else is supposedley better then all of wlads opponents?

ROBOTIC?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

WTF MAN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

you people dis him for having no stamina when he comes out and throws everything he has (which takes no tactic) and when he does the most insanley tactical thing ever and barley misses a single counter punch he gets told he doesnt throw enough?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


come on, mayweather could do the exact same thing and everyone would kiss his ass for it

The Heavyweights today (evolution wise), are the best we have ever seen. But not one of them, is anywhere close to being considered Great IMO.

It is a huge black eye to the sport, that its strongholds in the USA and Britain, are dying not least because of the fact, virtually no on has heard of Wlad...

and about american atheletes...

the best athelets are wide recievers running backs and defensive backs

out of those tree only the build of runnning backs would really transfer to boxing, and most of them wouldnt make good fighters


im guessing your not reffering to linesmen...

at least i hope not...

I have not watch American Football for years, so I have not got a clue what you are talking about. But what I do know is, the fine atheletes that used to turn to pro boxing, now pick up easier more lucrative contracts in American Football and Basketball.


While now it is the East Europeans who are hungry, and have turned to boxing as a saviour. Sadly this has had a very negative effect on the sport in my country, and thus I do not like it.

[SalTheButcher]

what do u mean evolution?


i know what you mean about the atheletes going into other sports but im saying the ones that are sucessfull, i really dont think many of them could ever manage to be pro fighters

have you ever seen a basketball fight?

[tuckwopat]

You wanna good comparison with Wlad and other older fighters, just compare footwork. Wlad is big, strong, and can throw a hell of a punch. But he stands straight up and doesn't use his feet much at all. Watch somebody like Trevor Berbick from the 80's. Yeah, he wasn't that great, and Wlad would probably handle him with pure strenght, but I'd say Berbick was an overall better boxer than Wlad.

Hell, just watch Rahman's head movement in the Tony fight, and compare it to Wlad's stick figure movement.

[SalTheButcher]

wlad actually is pretty quick on his feet, yesterday he just sort of stood still cuz he never had to step back